A rendering of the new Mars G. Fontana Laboratories atrium featuring its open-concept design throughout the space. Credit: Courtesy of Matt Schutte
Students in biomedical engineering and material science and engineering will have a new complex to further support student learning and research on campus this fall.
The Mars G. Fontana Laboratories construction is part of the university’s strategic Framework 2.0, which aims to enhance teaching and learning by improving facilities and support spaces, Dan Hedman, university spokesperson, said in an email. The $59.1-million project, approved by the Board of Trustees in 2016, is the renovation of the former Koffolt and Fontana laboratories and adds an additional 20,000 square feet to the north side of the facility.
The complex will be completed in August 2020 and will offer new amenities such as computer labs, an electronic instrumentation lab and collaboration spaces, according to the College of Engineering website.
Within the programs, there is a focus on collaboration, and the new complex will allow for it within the open lab through the use of shared equipment that is adaptable based on what students, faculty or researchers need, Michael Hagenberger, associate dean of facilities and capital planning in the college, said.
Hagenberger also said the open layout of the building will allow for collaboration between students and faculty because they can sit together in a space that allows for conversation about current research.
“Everything is there, but they can move anything in and out that they want,” Hagenberger said. “The infrastructure is there to support whatever the faculty wants to put in the space.”
Along with research labs, there will be lab support spaces in which more equipment will be available. The labs will be kept traditional, but with more adaptability to support students and faculty, Hagenberger said.
“It’s going to be a lot easier to get access to the tools that you need or to be successful,” Divya Krishnagiri, a fourth-year in biomedical engineering, said.
The material sciences and engineering program has been brought to main campus from West Campus near Carmack Road to be combined with the biomedical engineering program with the intent of improving the undergraduate student experience by expanding programs, Hagenberger said.
“The building is to allow not just the college of — the engineering department to collaborate, but to have a place where they can also collaborate with medicine,” he said.
Hagengerger said the university wants to make the building as functional and useful as possible because the building is designed with the hope of impacting future learning and research for the next 50-100 years.
“It’s going to be a big selling point to bringing in even better, even more researchers and professors,” Krishnagiri said. “That, in turn, is going to draw a lot more graduate students to work with professors and then, in turn, more undergraduates.”
